CalMatters: CA Hospitals Raise Pay Despite Delay In Health Care Minimum Wage
Despite delays and confusion surrounding a new minimum wage law for California’s lowest-paid health workers, some employers have begun raising pay ahead of the state’s deadline. Health care workers at San Bernardino County clinics will get a raise this month even though Newsom and lawmakers delayed the mandated wage increase until at least October. So will workers at University of California health systems, which announced in May that it would comply with the law on its original timeline. (Ibarra, 7/29)

San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD Halts Negotiations With Tri-City Medical Center. ‘We Don’t Believe There’s A Desire To Get This Deal Done’ 
Despite indications earlier this week that the long-developing partnership deal between UC San Diego Health and Tri-City Medical Center might be nearing completion, the university announced Friday afternoon that it is ending negotiations with the Oceanside hospital district. (Sisson, 7/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: Prime Healthcare Prepares To Grow 'At A Rapid Clip'
Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare has grown significantly since Founder, Chair and CEO Prem Reddy, MD, launched the health system in 2001. Now it is preparing to acquire nine Illinois hospitals from St. Louis-based Ascension in what would be the largest acquisition in the health system's 23-year history. The proposed transaction, expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, would increase the number of hospitals in Prime's portfolio to 53. It would also expand the health system's presence into the third-largest metropolitan market. (Condon, 7/26)

Axios: HHS Shuffle Aims To Address Cyberthreats, AI
The Biden administration is overhauling its health IT bureaucracy to address the proliferation of cyberattacks on the sector and the growth of data and artificial intelligence in medical settings. The goals include setting an AI policy and strategy for HHS and streamlining critical infrastructure protection within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, or ASPR, per a notice to be published in the Federal Register on Monday. (Bettelheim, 7/29)

Bloomberg: Knockoff Weight-Loss Drug Dosing May Harm Patients, FDA Warns
US health regulators warned that patients may be injecting themselves with incorrect amounts of copycat weight-loss drugs, causing harm that has landed some in the hospital. Because of shortages of the brand-name medicines made by Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co., the Food and Drug Administration allows compounding pharmacies to make copies of drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound. ... The compounded drugs often come in vials. That requires patients to measure the amount they get with each injection themselves. (Swetlitz, 7/26)

CalMatters: Can't Find A Doctor? CA Bill Would Fine Insurers For Bad Referrals
Over the years, licensed therapist Sarah Soroken has heard from her patients again and again about what a miserable experience it can be to find a mental health provider who actually takes their insurance. But one patient stands out. Soroken said she was working at Kaiser’s Vallejo Medical Center in 2022 when a college-aged woman was admitted to the hospital’s emergency room after she attempted suicide. (Sabalow, 7/29)

Bay Area News Group: Child Marriage: Advocates Push For Ban After Bill Stalls In Sacramento
In California law, there is no age limit to marry. A minor must get the permission of at least one parent or guardian and approval from a judge to obtain a marriage license or domestic partnership. Now, Tasneem and other survivors of child marriage are drawing attention to a bill in Sacramento that could ban all child marriages in California by setting the minimum marriage age to 18 — a bill that stalled in a committee controlled by a South Bay legislator. (Pender and Delacruz, 7/29)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Urges Counties To Expand Conservatorship Laws To Aid Homelessness
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging California counties to implement a new law that makes it easier to appoint a conservator to direct the care of people suffering from mental illness or substance abuse in order to prevent further crisis, such as imprisonment, homelessness or death. County health departments have until January 2026 to implement the changes outlined in Senate Bill 43, which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Newsom last October. Since then, only San Francisco and San Luis Obispo counties have taken advantage of the new law. (Vincent, 7/28)

Los Angeles Times: London Breed To Launch Aggressive Homeless Sweeps In San Francisco
James Reem has lived in a tent on the corner of Fell and Baker streets for more than a year. . ..His adopted neighborhood is among dozens of sites likely to be targeted as the city launches what Mayor London Breed has said will be an assertive campaign to force people off the streets in response to a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Wiley, 7/27)

The New York Times: Clear Encampments? Mind Your Own Business, Los Angeles Tells Newsom.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration urging cities to clear homeless camps met its strongest opposition in Los Angeles. (Corkery and Cowan, 7/26)

Associated Press: Homeless People Say They Will Likely Return To Sites If California Clears Them Under Newsom's Order 
Newsom's order directs state agencies to act soon and follow the lead of the California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, which has removed 11,188 encampments and more than 248,000 cubic yards (189,600 cubic meters) of debris from these encampments along the state rights of way, mostly freeways and highways, since July 2021. (Ding, 7/26)

Voice of OC: Is An Anti-Camping Crackdown Coming To Santa Ana?
A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling is clearing the way for cities to enforce anti-camping laws — a move that has Orange County cities rethinking their homelessness response. In Santa Ana, Mayor Valerie Amezcua said U.S. District Judge David Carter gave the city “his blessing” on homelessness enforcement after a recent meeting. “The last time I met Judge Carter he said, ‘Mayor Amezcua, your city has done enough. It’s time for enforcement,’” she said at the council’s July 16 meeting. “Those were his exact words. It is time for enforcement. So guess what, Judge Carter gave us his blessing. I welcome it.” (Hicks and Rios, 7/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Health Officials Advise Indoor Masking Amid Summer COVID Wave
San Francisco health officials are urging residents to consider wearing masks in some places amid a summer COVID-19 wave that continues to gain strength. On social media Friday, the city’s Department of Public Health advised, “Make this summer a healthy one for yourself and others. With COVID-19 circulating, please consider wearing a well-fitted mask in crowded indoor spaces.” (Vaziri, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Surging In California, Nears Two-Year Summer High
If it seems like many people around you are getting COVID-19, you’re not alone. Federal data show coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater are surging to levels not seen in summertime since 2022, indicating a wide and worsening spread of COVID. “We are seeing ... a definite, definite surge,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. (Lin II, 7/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bird Flu Is Spreading Around The U.S. Here’s What To Know About H5N1
In what may feel eerily reminiscent of the early COVID days of 2020, an avian flu outbreak has been spreading globally — most recently in Colorado to clusters of poultry workers who are thought to have contracted the H5N1 virus this month from sick birds. The workers represent the latest in a handful of human cases that have been detected since March, in three states and bring the total of confirmed or presumptive human cases in the United States to 13. (Ho, 7/29)

Capitol Weekly: 'Bubble Boy' Treatments Showing Success In Spite Of Funding Challenges
Dr. Moustache has done it again. Another child has been treated for a deadly affliction known as the “bubble boy” disease. Dr. Moustache and his “magical team” did have a little help, courtesy of the people of California who put tens of millions of dollars into financing his cell and gene therapy. But just who is Dr. Moustache? He is a fictional character conjured up by Paola Andrea Fernández de Soto AbdulRahim. She is the grateful mother of the child who was treated last week by the real-life, mustachioed researcher Donald Kohn at UCLA. (Jensen, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: Study: Wildfire Smoke Raises Dementia Risk More Than Other Pollutants
Exposure to wildfire smoke increases the odds of being diagnosed with dementia even more than exposure to other forms of air pollution, according to a landmark study of more than 1.2 million Californians. The study — released Monday at the Alzheimer’s Assn. International Conference in Philadelphia — is the largest and most comprehensive review of the impact of wildfire smoke on brain health to date, according to its authors. (Wigglesworth, 7/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Farmworkers Demand Disaster Pay During Extreme Heat Events
When temperatures hit 90 degrees in the Sonoma County vineyards where Isidro Rodriquez works, “everything stops,” he said. His employer’s policy is to send vineyard workers home for their safety, but they don’t get paid for lost hours: In the past six weeks, Rodriquez has missed an estimated 15-20 hours of work due to extreme heat, and it’s been difficult to pay his bills. Rodriquez isn’t alone, said Davida Sotelo Escobedo, an organizer for the advocacy coalition North Bay Jobs with Justice. Escobedo said the organization has recently heard from many local farmworkers who report being sent home early due to high temperatures, causing them to lose wages. Others have risked their health by working in the extreme heat, sometimes without access to nearby shade or sufficient breaks. (Lander, 7/26)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Hundreds Of Farmworkers, Allies Rally In Healdsburg For Better Work Conditions
Maria Salinas knows firsthand the toll long hours in grueling conditions can take on farmworkers. Her father worked in the fields for 13 years, often with few breaks and little water in ever-rising temperatures until physically he couldn’t continue. He died of cancer in 2014. (Pineda, 7/28)

Los Angeles Times: Lawsuit Faults Countertop Companies For A Worker's Incurable Silicosis
From morning to evening, six days a week, Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez spent his days cutting engineered stone, a man-made product that has become a popular choice for kitchen and bathroom countertops. The glossy slabs ... are also rife with crystalline silica: tiny particles that can irreparably scar the lungs when inhaled. By the time Reyes Gonzalez had reached his 33rd birthday, his lungs had been ravaged by silicosis, an incurable disease. He was forced to rely on an oxygen tank and grew thin and weak. At one point, he said, he asked God to take his life so that his suffering would end. (Alpert Reyes, 7/28)

Los Angeles Times: Justice Department: TikTok Collected U.S. User Views On Abortion, Religion
In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department has accused TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on their views about divisive social issues such as gun control, abortion and religion. Government lawyers wrote in documents filed to the federal appeals court in Washington late Friday that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, used an internal web-suite system called Lark to enable TikTok employees to speak directly with ByteDance engineers in China. (Hadero and Tucker, 7/27)

The New York Times: A Blood Test Accurately Diagnosed Alzheimer’s 90% Of The Time, Study Finds 
Scientists have made another major stride toward the long-sought goal of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease with a simple blood test. On Sunday, a team of researchers reported that a blood test was significantly more accurate than doctors’ interpretation of cognitive tests and CT scans in signaling the condition. The study, published Sunday in the journal JAMA, found that about 90 percent of the time the blood test correctly identified whether patients with memory problems had Alzheimer’s. Dementia specialists using standard methods that did not include expensive PET scans or invasive spinal taps were accurate 73 percent of the time, while primary care doctors using those methods got it right only 61 percent of the time. (Belluck, 7/28)

KVPR: A Protein Called Reelin Keeps Popping Up In Brains That Resist Aging And Alzheimer’s
A key protein that helps assemble the brain early in life also appears to protect the organ from Alzheimer’s and other diseases of aging. A trio of studies published in the past year all suggest that the protein Reelin helps maintain thinking and memory in ailing brains, though precisely how it does this remains uncertain. The studies also show that when Reelin levels fall, neurons become more vulnerable. (Hamilton, 7/29)

Roll Call: Massive Veterans Budget Gap Rips Hole In Appropriations Process
The Department of Veterans Affairs is facing a nearly $15 billion combined budget shortfall this fiscal year and next, and congressional Republicans are crying foul at the last-minute notification about a funding crisis lawmakers have little time to try to fix. VA officials told lawmakers on July 15 that the agency needs $2.9 billion in mandatory spending for veterans pensions and other benefits to cover a gap for the remaining months of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. And they need another $12 billion in discretionary medical care funds for next year on top of what was provided in a March appropriations package or in the fiscal 2025 House and Senate Military Construction-VA bills. (Quigley, 7/26)

Military Times: Veterans Push For Psychedelic Therapy, But MDMA Application Struggles
It was a landmark moment for the psychedelic movement: The Department of Veteran Affairs’ top doctor stood on stage, praising advocates who have spent decades promoting the healing potential of mind-altering drugs. In an unannounced appearance at a New York psychedelic conference, the VA’s Dr. Shereef Elnahal said his agency was ready to start rolling out MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder as soon as regulators approved it. (Perrone, 7/28)

CNN: Biden To Call For Major Supreme Court Reforms, Including Term Limits, At Civil Rights Act Event Monday 
President Joe Biden is set to call for major Supreme Court reforms Monday, according to a White House official, a move that would make him the first sitting president in generations to back seismic changes to the way the nation’s highest court operates. Biden’s election-year push comes amid deep unpopularity for the high court but stands little chance of going anywhere. He will call for a constitutional amendment stripping the president of immunity for crimes committed while in office, term limits for Supreme Court justices, and a binding code of conduct for the high court, the White House official said. (Graef, Benbrook, Fritze and Saenz, 7/29)

The New York Times: Echoes Of Roe V. Wade In Decision Granting Immunity To Trump 
In the month since the Supreme Court granted former President Donald J. Trump substantial immunity from prosecution, a recurring critique of the decision has emerged. Lawyers and scholars say the ruling bears a striking resemblance to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. They point to at least four features of the immunity decision that also figured in Roe, which was overturned in 2022 as “egregiously wrong” in a slashing majority opinion from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. (Liptak, 7/29)

Newsweek: Supreme Court Decision Faces New Warning Shot From Congress
Representative Joseph Morelle of New York introduced a constitutional amendment Wednesday seeking to undo the court's landmark decision in Trump v. United States. The proposed constitutional amendment would provide that "there is no immunity from criminal prosecution for an act on the grounds that such act was within the constitutional authority or official duties of an individual." It would also prohibit a president from pardoning themselves. The proposal was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Morelle was joined by 49 other House Democrats. A constitutional amendment requires two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, plus ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures. (Fung, 7/26)